Researchers Reveal Obesity can be Passed Down Through Generations

A team of British researchers sounds the alarm saying obesity is, in fact, highly transmittable to future generations.

In a recent paper published in the journal Economics and Human Biology, British researchers talk about how parents’ weight influence their offspring’s body mass index. At the moment, the United States is struggling with heart disease mostly brought on by the public’s lack of awareness towards obesity. Physicians say that the excessive buildup of fat serves as a trigger for multiple other disorders including respiratory issues and diabetes.

Obesity Throughout the World

Ironically, even though India is battling with malnutrition in many regions, the nation also has a growing obesity issue. Researchers say India is, in fact, the third largest country in the world whose residents battle with weight-related problems.

According to previous research, women are more likely to develop weight-related issues at some point during their lives than men. However, the new study reveals something entirely new. Analyzing past surveys, the researchers concluded that parental obesity may increase the risk of their children of becoming obese themselves by 40 percent. Hence, the investigators deemed obesity a sort of disease with a transmittable character.

Study’s Highlights

Researchers said that children inherit more than just their looks from their parents. Apart from getting the mother’s eyes, or the father’s mouth, the children also inherit their parents’ bodily structure. The new study showed that more than a half of the tendency of becoming obese at some point during their lives in obese children was determined by family environment and genetics.

At the same time, however, thinner offsprings were only 10 percent affected by this “parental effect”, found researchers. The British health experts said that the thinnest children inherited 10 percent of their body mass index from their father, and 10 perfect from their mother, whereas obese children inherited 30 percent of their BMI from each parent.

University of Sussex’s Professor Peter Dolton, lead author of the study thus concluded that children of obese parents are more susceptible themselves to face a weight-related condition later in life as the parental effect observed in their case is more than double as compared to the toll it takes on thinner children. The team of researchers pulled data from approximately 100,000 children and their families across six countries including Indonesia, Great Britain, Mexico, China, Spain, and the United States.

About Andreas Petersen

Andreas was too little to remember when he and his parents first set foot in America. He considers himself a true American citizen, but uses every opportunity to promote his Danish origins. He is deeply found of politics, all nations’ politics and generally looks forward to the presidential elections. His BA degree in Political Sciences has helped him get familiar to the constitutional frames of US and non-US nations.